Boss Charming

While looking for a job today, I was searching postings on Craigslist (which kind of creeps me out, since several people in my city have been killed by responding to stuff they saw on Craigslist--I removed all contact info from my resume, save my cell phone number and email address) and I came across this posting...

Office Assistant

(City that I am not going to name) financial planning practice seeking a part-time administrator to support the new business and review processes, provide client service and scheduling, generate mailings, presentations and other projects as assigned. General office duties include phone support, mail, supplies, and office equipment maintenance.

The chosen candidate will possess:
Strong computer proficiency including MS Word, Excel and Outlook.
Excellent multi-tasking and organization skills
Attention to detail
Professional demeanor
Excellent communication skills

Um, hi--that sounds a lot like my job, right down to being located in the same suburb. I actually had qualms about applying for it thinking that it might be my job. Would they do that to me? Would they really let me go saying they couldn't afford Clay Aiken and me part time and then turn around and hire a part time person? Honestly, I think that they could. I talked myself off a ledge and applied for the position anyway, since it is perfect for me. It was posted on January 10, so hopefully I am not applying too late. To show how un-hip I am, I didn't know that you could apply for real jobs on Craigslist. Apparently, that's what the kids are doing these days. Now that I've applied for some more things, I'm checking my email about every 30 seconds to see if someone wants me.

There is nothing worse than looking for a job. I'm thinking that it should be incorporated somehow into* a person's prison sentence or other forms of punishment.

Anyway...this post is actually about The Man. Since I started writing after I got my job at BCFG you haven't really heard a lot about The Man, whom I worked for a The Place with Three Letters. The Man is truly charming. There are very few men whom I would describe with that word. I think The Man is the only one that I've ever met. The Man will always open your car door for you, pull out your chair, and carry out other social graces that are mostly dead. Unfortunately working for The Man was also like working for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. You never knew who was going to show up that day. Dr. Jekyll was the most warm and complimentary person tho work for--he was a joy. Mr. Hyde was horrible and just mean--pointing out everything bad that you ever thought about yourself. Working for The Man was constant walking on eggshells.

Why didn't I look for something else? My industry collapsed with the market in 2008 and still hasn't recovered. I was well paid and I got to work from home. I had total flexibility with my schedule. Most days I was 111 miles away from The Man. You can put up with a lot from that distance. The flip side of all my freedom was that I was expected to get stuff done whenever The Man wanted it, which meant dropping everything to finish stuff on the weekends or my so called "days off."

I haven't spoken to The Man in months. However, due to the interview that I was supposed to have today, I needed to gather references. I wanted to use Mr. X and The Man, since they were the most recent people that I supported. I sent The Man a text, which he didn't immediately respond to, so I ended up using Mr. X and Mole as my references. The Man did respond, at 4:13 on Saturday morning--my phone dinging woke me up. The Man has insomnia even worse than mine, so it was very common for me to get texts from him in the middle of the night. (I never responded until normal hours--texting in the middle of the night seemed too intimate and kind of inappropriate.) Thankfully, Dr. Jekyll was the one who got my text, and The Man had many nice things to say and he will be a good reference. I think it's been long enough since I've worked for him that he misses me and has forgotten any mistakes that I made. I don't really miss The Man. It's pretty hard to miss someone who treated you that badly, no matter how many times they pulled out your chair or got you a drink.

This post has turned out to be more depressing than I meant it to be...my doctor did adjust my medication and I'm waiting to see what, if anything, it will do. Until then I just hang in there.

I'm going to go back to trolling Craigslist now--I sound creepy. I like it.

*I'm listening to Pandora while I write, and Pandora just thought that I would enjoy Celine Dion and Reba McEntire. Sometimes I feel like Pandora doesn't know me at all--thumbs down. Now I have Florence and the Machine and am much happier.